Question: TMA 01 Part 1: Summarise two different psychological approaches to identity. How has each been used to further our understanding of this concept?

TMA 01 Part II: Ethics

Answer: All of us have an idea of who we are and the characteristics that differentiate us from others. Psychologists develop different theories in order to study ‘identity’. One theory for identity is that people have a stable identity by adulthood. However, over many years, an approach to identity within social psychology has argued that identity is constantly changing and we self-categorise ourselves as belonging to a group. This essay will summarise and evaluate the psychosocial theory by Erikson & Marcia and the Social Identity Theory by Tajfel . It will also focus on disability to further our understanding of both these concepts.
The Psychosocial theory was first introduced by Erikson. According to Erikson ‘It involved the development of a stable, consistent and reliable sense of who we are’ (Erikson 1968, Pg 53) The quotation suggests that Erikson saw identity at an individual,...(short extract)

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